This follows our previous article on the EMFA and changes to the media merger regime.
On 26 February 2026, the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport published the Media Regulation Bill (the “Bill”), which will implement the main provisions of EU Regulation 2024/1083, the European Media Freedom Act (“EMFA”) in Ireland. EMFA puts new rules in place to protect media pluralism and independence and increase co-operation between media regulators in the EU.
The Bill is intended to modernise Ireland’s existing framework for the assessment of media mergers and introduce new rules regarding state expenditure on advertising.
The Current Position
The Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 provides for the current media merger regime. A transaction must be notified to, and cannot be completed pending approval by the Irish Minister for Media (the “Minister”) if ‘two or more undertakings involved carry on a media business’, and one does so in Ireland (the other party can have a ‘media business’ anywhere in the world). The threshold which determines whether a ‘media business’ is carried on in Ireland is very low, and specifically can be satisfied by either (i) any physical presence within Ireland; or (ii) annual turnover of €2m in Ireland.
Key Changes to the Media Merger Regime
The Bill proposes to make a number of changes to how media mergers are assessed in Ireland. These changes include:
- Transferring responsibility for the assessment of media mergers from the Minister to the independent media regulator, the Coimisiún na Meán;
- Limiting the current notification threshold to only capture mergers where the target or product of a joint venture or merger carries on a media business in Ireland. This means that deals involving a non-media acquirer of an Irish media business target could be caught by the regime;
- Narrowing the scope to only capture transactions where the target has turnover of at least €2 million in Ireland (physical presence in Ireland is not relevant) with the potential for the Minister to amend the scope of this to reflect landscape changes. This narrowed scope means that transactions that have limited potential to impact on media pluralism in Ireland would no longer trigger a technical filing requirement;
- Broadening the scope of the definition ‘media business’ to include media service providers or online platforms that provide access to media content – this goes beyond traditional media avenues (like broadcasting services) to include online platforms, but it also goes beyond the current limitation of only capturing programmes or websites that consist substantially of news content. As such, the new regime will mean that programmes and websites will be caught even if they only contain entertainment or educational content. This means that technology companies, streaming services and social media platforms may become subject to the media merger regime;
- Providing the Coimisiún na Meán with the power to “call-in” transactions which would not otherwise be classified as media mergers, if Coimisiún na Meán considers that the transaction may have a significant impact on media plurality and editorial independence within Ireland; and
- Introducing a new “gun-jumping” offence, where a media merger is put into effect prior to obtaining approval from the Coimisiún na Meán. Parties need to be increasing vigilant about compliance with the notification requirement.
Other Changes Introduced by the Bill
In addition to the above mentioned proposed changes to the media merger regime, the Bill seeks to increase transparency relating to state advertising. Public bodies will be required to publish their advertising expenditure annually, and Coimisiún na Meán will be tasked with producing an annual report based on this information.
Coimisiún na Meán will also be designated as responsible for the development and maintenance of a media ownership database of media service providers active in Ireland.
Next Steps
The Bill will now be debated and potentially amended by the Houses of the Oireachtas. While there is no exact timeline for this process, it is possible that the Bill may be enforceable in Ireland around the third quarter of 2026.